SAM HODDERPresident, CEO of Save the Redwoods League

The coast redwood and giant sequoia forests are home to the tallest trees on the planet. They represent the original face of nature, embodying a beauty millions of years in the making. These forests store more carbon from the atmosphere and support communities of life found nowhere else on earth.

Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoringCalifornia’s redwood forests and connecting people with their peace and beauty.

The following are lists of projects, organizations and endeavors PGC supports with either time, treasure or talent — and sometimes with all three! Click HERE to view all of PGC’s contributions since 1923.

Civic Projects: Supporting Our Local Community

Morcom Rose Garden

Native Plant Garden at Community Hall

Below is a partial list of PGC civic projects and contributions to local projects from 2000-2006:

Click HERE to view all of PGC’s civic projects and contributions since 1923.

Piedmont Beautification Foundation

The Piedmont Garden Club was instrumental in starting the Piedmont Beautification Foundation in 1964. PGC remains very involved in the Foundation, providing key officers and board members as well as ongoing financial support and volunteers. The Piedmont Beautification Foundation works together with the City of Piedmont to provide support for civic projects around town that beautify and improve our neighborhoods.

PBF sponsors and organizes the annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony the first Wednesday evening of December. The Piedmont Garden Club helps the city to put up and then take down the lights every year.

PEF also organizes the installation of memorial and tribute trees and benches around the city.

Serving California and The Greater Bay Area

The Garden Club of America purchased a grove of over 5000 acres in Humboldt State Park with the help of Save the Redwoods League between the 1932 and the 1950s, encompassing almost the entire Canoe Creek watershed. This was GCA’s first Conservation Project. The special relationship between The Garden Club of America, and particularly the Piedmont Garden Club, has continued throughout the years of working together to protect the redwood trees in the grove, support the league and encourage members to visit and learn about these incredible trees.

The Piedmont Garden Club works closely with ecologists from Save the Bay on our Partners for Plants Project at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline where we are restoring part of the shoreline by planting natives plants. We also work with Save the Bay on educational outreach to our members on the ecology of the Bay and initiatives like measure A to fund wetlands restoration. PGC supports Save the Bay with donations and volunteers.

This garden with a world class plant collection is in our own backyard. There is a history of Piedmont Garden Club members and their involvement with the UC Botanical Garden as Board Members, Volunteers and Donors. The Garden is a source of education for PGC members through talks, field trips and workshops.

The Student Conservation Association was started by a Garden Club of America member 50 years ago. Piedmont Garden Club continues to support this organization and its mission to train the next generation of conservation leaders and help with the stewardship of our public lands. Recently SCA members have been doing restoration work on the trails of the GCA Redwood Grove.

Partners for Plants is a joint program of The Garden Club of America’s Conservation and Horticulture Committees to monitor and conserve rare plants, restore native habitats and remove invasive weeds on federal, state and local public lands. Partners for Plants volunteers have partnered with land agencies to conserve a variety of natural open spaces throughout the United States. Since the program’s beginning in 1992, there have been over 470 projects nationwide.

The current Partners for Plants Project is a joint project between The Piedmont Garden Club and The Orinda Garden Club at Oakport Park on the Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline in Oakland. We have adopted a part of the shoreline and are planting native plants to restore the upland area above the high tide line. This creates food and habitat for native pollinators and birds, as well as improving the soil and the environment. We have partnered with Save the Bay and are working under the direction of their ecologists. For 3 years we have received funding from the Garden Club of America for this project, which goes to support Save The Bay and their biologists.

In the spirit of fostering collaboration and camaraderie among the six Northern California Garden Club of America clubs, the Bay Visions Committee was formed to help restore and protect the San Francisco bays. Consistent with the purpose of GCA, Bay Visions works with and educates our members and our communities on the bays’ critical importance to the surrounding communities and environment. It supports the diverse, ongoing conservation and improvement efforts on our bays and estuaries.

WHO ARE WE?

The group consists of 15 members (2 from each club) including a Chair, a Vice Chair and a Secretary. Other members included will be: the current P4P Vice Chair, Zone XII Conservation /NAL Rep and Zone XII Horticulture Rep. The 2018 Annual Meeting co-chairs will be representatives on the Committee.

The committee will meet as needed and at least 4 times per year to facilitate the process of restoration of the bay. The six clubs, Woodside Atherton Garden Club, Hillsborough Garden Club, Marin Garden Club, Piedmont Garden Club, Orinda Garden Club and Carmel by the Sea Garden Club will come together to learn, share and eventually celebrate our successful restoration efforts.

OUR GOALS

All six clubs will set aside the same day to be educated about SF area bay restoration. The format, content, frequency, timing and location of this gathering will be determined and planned by the committee in conjunction with the six clubs’ Program Chairmen. Each club’s projects to restore the bay will be supported and encouraged by the committee with the view to sharing ideas and strengthening our commitment and effectiveness.

The work of the Committee will reflect the theme of the 2018 Annual Meeting, “How the West Is One”. By joining all six clubs in a united effort to restore these vital bodies of water, we will demonstrate the power of one.

From the time of its founding, The Garden Club of America has been an active force in the promotion of environmental awareness and the preservation of natural resources. In 1921, one of the four founding GCA club members testified before Congress on behalf of the parks of Washington, DC. The Conservation Committee was one of the earliest GCA committees established, and many GCA club members were active in the 1930s in the battle to save the redwoods.

In the 1960s, as the environmental movement grew strongly in response to growing alarm about pollution and species loss in our country, the GCA’s legislative involvement grew along with it. In June, 1969, the National Affairs and Legislation Committee was established as a separate entity from the Conservation Committee. In the words of Mrs. Thomas M. Waller, a primary founder and former GCA president, the purpose of NAL is to “bring to the attention of the membership important legislative proposals in Washington which fall within the fields of our endeavor.”

The NAL and Conservation Committees work in tandem to enhance the GCA purpose to “restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement.” Although NAL and Conservation committees meet together, their purposes and functions are different. NAL follows in detail legislation that ultimately affects the above purpose, while Conservation provides education on the environmental issues themselves. Conservation Committee members work with youth, member clubs, and the general public to promote local conservation projects and responsible environmental stewardship.

Committee zone members carry the work of both committees to the clubs in their zones. Conservation committee members also publish Conservation Watch, a quarterly online newsletter featuring conservation and environmental news from around the country. NAL shares information with member clubs through regular legislative updates and its Current Legislative Status Chart. The focal issues for the NAL Committee are explicitly detailed in the GCA Position Papers, which are created by both committees and approved by the Executive Board.